Amy Johnson Crow suggested a weekly blog theme of "52 Ancestors" in her blog post Challenge: 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks on the No Story Too Small blog. I am extending this theme in 2016 to 156 Ancestors in 156 Weeks. Here is my ancestor biography for week #134:
Martha (Soule) Kirby (1743-1828) is #179 on my Ahnentafel list, my 5th great-grandmother, who married #178 David Kirby (1740-1832) in 1763.
I am descended through:
* their daughter #89 Sibel Kirby (1764-1848) who married #88 Humphrey White (1757-1814) in 1786.
* their daughter #89 Sibel Kirby (1764-1848) who married #88 Humphrey White (1757-1814) in 1786.
* their son #44 Jonathan White (1805-1850), who married Miranda Wade (1804-1850) in 1823.
* their son #22 Henry Arnold White (1824-1885), who married #23 Amy Frances Oatley (1826-1864)
* their daughter #11 Julie E. White (1848-1913), who married #10 Thomas Richmond (1848-1917) in 1868.
* their daughter #5 Alma Bessie Richmond (1882-1962), who married #4 Frederick Walton Seaver (1876-1942) in 1900.
* their son #2 Frederick Walton Seaver (1911-1983), who married #3 Betty Virginia Carringer (1919-2002) in 1942.
* their son #1 Randall J. Seaver (1943-....)
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1) PERSON (with source citations as indicated in brackets):
* Name: Martha Soule[1–3]
* Alternate Name: Martha Kirby[4–8]
* Alternate Name: Martha Sowle[9–10]
* Sex: Female
* Father: Benjamin Soule (1719-1803)
* Mother: Meribah Waite (1720-1803)
2) INDIVIDUAL EVENTS (with source citations as indicated in brackets):
* Birth: 1 October 1743, Dartmouth, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States[1–2]
* Distribution: 20 February 1793 (age 49), Benjamin Sowle's will written; Dartmouth, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States[4]
* Death: 26 May 1828 (age 84), Westport, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States[5–7]
* Probate: after 26 May 1828 (after age 84), receipts of heirs; Dartmouth, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States[8]
3) SHARED EVENTS (with source citations as indicated in brackets):
* Spouse 1: David Kirby (1740-1832)
* Marriage Intentions: 19 March 1763 (age 19), Dartmouth, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States[3,9]
* Marriage: 21 April 1763 (age 19), Tiverton, Newport, Rhode Island, United States[10–11]
* Child 1: Sibel Kirby (1764-1848)
* Child 2: Ichabod Kirby (1782-1857)
4) NOTES (with source citations as indicated in brackets):
Martha Soule was the eldest of two daughters born to Benjamin Soule and Meribah Waite in Dartmouth, Massachusetts. The Dartmouth town record book records the birth as[1]:
"[Soule] Martha d of Benjamin and Meribah 1 Oct 1743"
The intentions of marriage of David Kerby and Martha Sowle was recorded in the Dartmouth, Massachusetts town record book for births, marriages and deaths (and the published town vital records book) as[3]:
"Kerby, David and Martha Sowle, both of Dartmouth, Mch 19, 1763"
The marriage of David Kirby and Martha Sowle was also recorded in the Rhode Island town records for Tiverton, and was summarized in the Rhode Island Vital Records by Arnold[10]. The entry says:
"KIRBY, David, and Martha Sowle, both of Dartmouth; m. by Restcome Sanford, Justice, April 21, 1763."
Only two children were recorded in Dartmouth, Massachusetts town records - Sibel Kirby (in 1764) and Ichabod Kirby (in 1782). There may have been other children who died in infancy or young adulthood for whom there are no records.
In the will of her father, Benjamin Sowle, Martha Kirby was to receive half of all of the real estate after Benjamin's wife died, and half of the personal estate after Benjamin's wife died[4]. Benjamin Sowle died 31 January 1803 and Meribah (Waite) Sowle died on 3 February 1803. The will of Benjamin Sowle was proved on 3 May 1803.
The death date of Martha (Soule) Kirby was included in the Westport, Massachusetts vital records[7]; it was also found in the papers from the Ichabod Kirby estate provided by Susanne Nisbet. The heading of the paper says[6]:
"A memorandum of the births and deaths of Ichabod and Rachel Kirby
And births of their Children"
The death information included:
"Martha Kirby Deceased May 27th 1828
David Kirby Deceased February 10th 1832."
Martha (Soule) Kirby died 26 May 1828, and apparently left a will. However, no will is listed in the Bristol county, Massachusetts probate court records.
The Ichabod Kirby family papers provided by Susanne Nisbet in March 2016 included seven scraps of paper on three sheets of paper that are receipts from the distribution of Martha (Soule) Kirby's estate[8]. The information on the papers included:
"Westport June 7'th AD 1828
Received of Ichabod Kirby the Executor to the last
will of Martha Kirby all the gifts which She
give unto me in her will Sibel White
"Westport June 7'th 1828
Received of Ichabod Kirby Executor to the last
will of Martha Kirby Seventy dollars in full
of my gifts by me Benjamin White
"Westport August the 18'th AD 1829
Received of Ichabod Kirby Executor to
the Last will of Martha Kirby Seventy
dollars being infull for all which my
grand mother gave me in her will
$70. David White
"Gloucester may 14'th AD 1829
Received of Icabod Kerby Executor to my
grand mothers Will Seventy Dollars
Being infull for all my Grandmothers
Kerby gave to me in her Will
Jonathan White
"Gloucester May 14th 1829
Received of Ichabod Kerby Executor to my
Grand mothers Will Seventy Dollars being infull
for all my grand mothers Kerby gave to me
in her Will Meribah Hutchinson
"Westport May 21'st AD 1829
Received of Ichabod Kirby Executor to
the will of Martha Kirby Seventy dollars
being infull for all which our grand mother
Kirby gave us in her will Peleg Wood
$70. Elizabeth Wood
"Killingly July AD 1830
then Received of Ichabod Kerby the
Executer to the last will and testament
of my granmother Martha Kerby
the sum of Seventy dollars which was
given to me by said wil Rec'd by me
Nancy Cutter"
The seven receipts are from:
* Sibel White, the daughter of David and Martha (Soule) Kirby, and sister of Ichabod Kirby, the son of David and Martha (Soule) Kirby, the executor of Martha Kirby's estate.
* Benjamin White, the son of Humphrey and Sibel (Kirby) White, and the grandson of David and Martha (Soule) Kirby.
* David White, the son of Humphrey and Sibel (Kirby) White, and the grandson of David and Martha (Soule) Kirby.
* Jonathan White, the son of Humphrey and Sibel (Kirby) White, and the grandson of David and Martha (Soule) Kirby.
* Meribah (White) Hutchinson, the daughter of Humphrey and Sibel (Kirby) White, and the granddaughter of David and Martha (Soule) Kirby.
* Elizabeth (White) Wood and her husband, Peleg Wood, the daughter and son-in-law of Humphrey and Sibel (Kirby) White, and the granddaughter of David and Martha (Soule) Kirby.
* Nancy (White) Cutter, the daughter of Humphrey and Sibel (Kirby) White, and the granddaughter of David and Martha (Soule) Kirby.
Apparently, the will of Martha (Soule) Kirby (1743-1828) gave personal property to her daughter, Sibel (Kirby) White, and gave $70 to each of her named White grandchildren, children of Humphrey and Sibel (Kirby) White. There were several other children of Humphrey and Sibel (Kirby) White alive in 1828, but there are no receipts for them; perhaps they did not return the receipt to the executor, or perhaps they were not specifically named by Martha (Soule) Kirby in her will for some reason. Ichabod Kirby, the executor of this estate, and the son of David and Martha (Soule) Kirby, was not married in 1828 and had no children.
5) SOURCES
1. Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988, digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com), "Dartmouth, Births, Marriages, Deaths" page 155 (image 81 of 2331), Martha Soule entry.
2. Vital Records of Dartmouth, Massachusetts, to the year 1850 ( Boston, Mass. : New England Historic Genealogical Society,1929-1930), Births, page 257, Martha Soule entry.
3. Vital Records of Dartmouth, Massachusetts, to the year 1850, Marriages, page 284, David Kerby and Martha Soule entry, 1763.
4. Bristol County [Mass.] Register of Probate, Bristol County (Mass.) Probate Records, 1690-1881, on 351 FHL US/CAN Microfilm rolls; original records at Probate Registry, Taunton, Mass., Benjamin Sowle, Westport, 1803 estate file, accessed 2 February 2016 on FHL microfilm US/CAN 0,580,779.
5. "Rhode Island, Vital Records Extracts, 1636-1899," indexed database and digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com), Volume 10, "Town and Court Records, Births, Baptisms, Marriages, Deaths," page 83 (image 128 of 590), Martha Kirby entry.
6. Ichabod Kirby Family Papers (loose papers on scrapbook pages, created after 1801 by unknown persons), handwritten list of birth/death dates of Ichabod Kirby family members, Martha Kirby death entry, digital image of loose papers privately held by Susanne Nisbet, [address for private use], Wake Forest, N.C., 2016 (7th great-grandchild of Ichabod Kirby). David Kirby family of Westport, Mass. ca 1801 to Susanne Nisbet 2016, provided to Randy Seaver March 2016 via email.
7. Vital records of Westport, Massachusetts, to the year 1850 (Boston, Mass. : New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1918), Deaths, page 277, Martha Kirby entry.
8. Ichabod Kirby Family Papers, Receipts of heirs to Martha Kirby's estate, 1828-1830, permission given to publish online by owner.
9. Massachusetts, Town Records, 1620-1988, digital images, Ancestry.com, Dartmouth, "Births, Marriages and Deaths," no page number (image 183 of 2331), David Kerby and Martha Sowle marriage entry.
10. "Rhode Island, Vital Records Extracts, 1636-1899," indexed database and digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com), Volume 4, "Newport County Births, Marriages, Deaths," page 34 (image 606 of 691), David Kirby and Martha Sowle marriage entry.
11. Anne Borden Harding (editor), Mayflower families Through Five Generations : Volume 3: George Soule (Plymouth, MA : General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1980), page 223.
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Copyright (c) 2016, Randall J. Seaver
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1 comment:
Randy, your final list of the recipients of the estate portions could be less confusing for slowbees such as me if the first one showed Sibel's surname to be White, and she was called sister to the executor . :-)
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